First episode date 22 September 2001 | Language Portuguese | |
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O Processo dos Távoras (The Távora affair) It is a series of historical fiction produced by RTP, Antinomia Produções Vídeo and the Institute of Cinema, Audiovisual and Multimedia (ICAM) in 2001. It was written by Francisco Moita Flores, and is based on the Portuguese political scandal that occurred during the reign of D. José, in 1758. The series had a prominent place at the International Television Festival in Venice 2002, as a unique project, both historical and cultural point of view as well as audio-visual.
Contents
Synopsis
This series demonstrates the whole process (and its related politics), which led to the barbaric execution of the Távoras, in a voyage back to the eighteenth century. In an environment of political and economic crisis, D. José, King of Portugal, is the victim of an attack on a September night when returning to Campo Real after a meeting with his mistress—the Marchioness of Tavora new, D. Teresa de Távora. After a first moment, the king hesitates and instructs his minister Sebastião José de Carvalho e Melo to constitute a court to find, arrest and judge those responsible for the attempted regicide. It is with this pretext that the old nobility that resisted the Enlightenment euphoria it sought to put an end. However it also permanently changes the way of doing politics in Europe, as well as with the Society of Jesus. Thus, the families of the Duke of Aveiro and the Marquis of Tavora are accused, and find themselves caught up in a dubious process, built on evidence whose political intention was evident, and no effective defense was a possibility. The judgement for those who are considered directly involved was the death, the most significant collective execution that Portugal has ever seen. However, questions have always remained. Politically were responsible for opposition to the spirit of reform in court were innocent and their public horror and humiliation forever marked the history.
The Epoch
The film is set between September 1758 and December of the same year. In a tense atmosphere marked by the fight of Joseph and his government for the implementation of a set of reforms that allow Portugal out of the misery which afflicted it after the Brazilian gold crisis, when gold shipments declined during the late reign of King John V and especially in the reign of his son. Resistance and surprise is quite noticeable from the old nobility, troubled as they are by the emergence of new mercantilist policies that arose from the Enlightenment. It is thought that these ignore the traditional values of the structure of nobility and favour an economy-based logic of power. This discontent coupled with the change of social and political behaviour, beyond the stage of the power struggle that has come about in Brazil puts the Society of Jesus in conflict with D. José and the Marquis of Pombal, Sebastião José de Carvalho e Melo.